His Only Friend
by BakaMarimo99
Summary: Relationship between Depth Charge and a young human child he found when he landed on a planet in the aftermath of one of X's massacres. Songfic/Oneshot
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Relationship between Depth Charge and a young human child he found when he landed on a planet in the aftermath of one of X's massacres. Songfic/Oneshot**

**Ok, I was just sitting around reading summaries of Beast Wars episodes when I remembered Depth Charge. So, I went ahead and started reading fanfics about him and this specific one called "Transformation" caught my attention. Depth Charge is my favourite BW character and I always wished that he would actually have a friend to depend on so cue this song popping into my head and thus, this fanfic was born. I really hope that I didn't make DC too OOC :/ Also, I changed the lyrics a bit to suit the fic. Please review! All that aside, Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Do you you wanna build a snowman" or Transformers: Beast Wars. **

* * *

(cue opening instrumental)

A young girl's head peeks out from under the huge desk she hides, or rather, lives under. Scanning the room to make sure it empty, she scrambles out from her hiding place a runs towards the window. White fluffy snow falls from the sky. The girl watches in awe, her face pressed against the glass. Eyes widening she flees back under the desk, diving behind the curtain that serves as a door between the desk and the outside world.

Depth Charge entered his office, sighing and grumbling with irritation. Yet another failed attempt at trying to convince the Council to destroy that damn X. The Maximal High Council had _refused_ to destroy Protoform X, instead choosing to charge Primal with dumping him on an uninhabited world despite his extremely strong objections. He _knew_ Primal was going to blow it sooner or later like he always did. Huffing, Depth Charge sank into his chair and rolled to his desk. Grabbing a datapad of the stack that had been sitting on his desk for the past few weeks, he turned it on and started reading it. Primus, he _hated_ paperwork.

He had gotten halfway through the report he was reading when he felt a movement from under the desk. Silently gritting his denta, he forced himself to focus on his work. This was not the time to play.

The young girl stuck her head out from behind the curtain, outing her head in Depth Charge's lap. Her dark brown eyes shining up at her self-appointed guardian. A twinge of sadness filled her as she realized her friend was ignoring her once again. He had been working so hard and sleeping so late. His nightmares had also come back; she often caught him whimpering in his sleep when they slept in their shared quarters. She wished he would lighten up and have some fun once in a while. Glancing at the reflection of the falling snow on the cabinet door behind him, she looked up at him again and started singing.

_Do you wanna build a snowman?_

Depth Charge winced internally. It's not that the five-year-old's singing was horrible. On the contrary, it was beautiful but he had been trying to her since X had been captured, hoping that he would be able to distance himself from her so that he wouldn't feel to bad when the day came that he had to leave her on Cybertron so that she would not be put in harm's way when he was tracking down X. However, her voice was near impossible to ignore much less resist. It took all of Depth Charge's willpower to keep his gaze locked on the datapad.

_Come on lets go and play_

_I never see you anymore_

_Come out the door_

_It's like you've gone away._

_We used to be best buddies,_

_And now we're not._

_I wish you would tell me why_

_Do you wanna build a snowman?_

The girl leaned closer to her friend.

_It doesn't have to be a snowman _

She sang, pleading and hopeful.

"I'm busy, Asha."

The girl wilted.

_Okay, bye…_

With that, she retreated back under the desk.

* * *

*eight years later*

A teenage Asha skipped down the corridor of the motel Depth Charge and her were staying in for a few days while they waited for his Starhopper to finish being repaired. Asha had stowed away on his ship, refusing to part with her only friend. Depth Charge hadn't realized she was with him until it was _waaay_ too late. It was winter on the planet and there was quite a large amount of snow even though it had just started snowing a few hours ago. Entering their room, Asha skipped to their shared quarters and opened the door just enough to peek her head inside the room where Depth Charge lay, on the berth, scanning through yet another one of the random datapads he had brought with him. Where the pit did he get those from anyway? Shaking her head, she ignored the disturbing suggestions her teenage mind provided her with and sang to him softly.

_Do you wanna build a snowman_

_Or fly up in the snowing sky_

_I think some company is overdue_

_I've started talking to the pictures on the walls_

_It gets a little lonely_

_Playing by myself_

_Just watching those snowflakes fall_

* * *

(Orchestral)

By the time Depth Charge had finally started having a proper conversation with Asha, she was already and adult. Feeling guilty, he dragged her out of recharge at 5am in the morning so that they would be able to spend a full day at the beach. Asha was not a morning person, but she woke up when she saw the dawn. They had the best day they ever had in their entire lives. After watching the sun set, the pair headed back to the motel to clean up and get a good rest before their departure from the planet the next day.

While they were walking back, they caught sight of a commotion. Before they could do anything, there was an explosion. The two friends were thrown into a building from the sheer force of the explosion. Groaning, Depth Charge rose to his pedes, trying to ignore the loud ringing in his audials. Looking around for Asha, he felt fear creep into his tanks when he saw her prone form lying a few meters away from him. Stumbling towards her, he dropped to his knees, turned her over… picked her up and started running as fast as he could to the nearest hospital he could find.

_Dear Primus, please let her live,_ he thought. Asha had been impaled throughthe stomach with a metal pole, but she wasn't bleeding. Depth Charge was smart enough to realize that any injuries she had were internal. Everything went by in a blur. Depth Charge found himself waiting a nurse or medic to call him, outside a ward after he had handed over Asha for surgery. When the finally exited the ward, he leapt to his pedes, hoping, praying that his only remaining friend would be alright. However, with each word, the medic said, he felt his spark grow colder and colder. The medic put a comforting servo on his shoulder but he barely noticed it.

* * *

The techno organic woman the Maximals had discovered had proven to be quite an asset to the war. They had been winning the battles waged by the Predacons ever since she came. Not only was she a skilled warrior, but she was also a good engineer, a fact which Rhinox thanked Primus for as he watched her work through the kinks of the connection between the Maximal and Autobot technology with surprising ease. However, Asha had an unhealthy habit of forgetting to take a break, often spending a whole day on her work if she was not monitored. Rhinox decided to give her five more minutes before he shooed her out of base to take a break and smell the flowers, making sure to watch the time closely while conversing with Optimus Primal.

"Speaking of which, where's Depth Charge? We haven't seen or heard from him for a few weeks now," Primal said. Asha's ears pricked at the mention of her friend's name.

"Depth Charge?" she asked curiously, carefully masking her surprise. The Maximals hadn't mentioned him before and she also hadn't revealed the fact that they were friends.

"Oh, that's right. We didn't tell you about him. I have to apologize, it was a bit hectic around here as you know, and Depth Charge, while not purely a free agent, doesn't exactly help us out very much," said Primal, giving her an apologetic smile. It had honestly slipped his mind that he had forgotten to tell her of the rogue Maximal.

Frowning, he said, "Even if he doesn't make contact with us often, it's been quite some time since he reported in. I was thinking of looking for him if he doesn't show up soon."

"It's okay, I'm certain he'll turn up sooner or later," replied Asha, smiling at her leader reassuringly. Stretching, she announced that she was going to take a break for a short while, asking Rhinox to take over. After being shooed out of the base by Rhinox, she took off, running as fast as she could as she traced Depth Charge's spark signature. Her search led her to a small cave by the sea. A boulder sealed its entrance.

"Depth Charge?" Asha called out to her friend, knocking lightly on the boulder. Pressing her head against the boulder, she sang.

_Please I know you're in there_

_People are asking where you've been_

Asha remembered when she had first been discharged, how the medic had told her about how guilty Depth Charge had looked when he heard about her injuries and that she had been turned into a techno organic to save her life.

_They say "have courage", and I'm trying to_

_I'm right out here for you,_

_Just let me in_

She had forgiven him for neglecting her all those years ago. She just wished he would forgive himself for what had happened that day.

_We only have each other_

_It's just you and me_

_What are we gonna do_

She slid down the boulder to sit on the sand, leaning against the hard rock. As she looked up to the sky, she saw small snowflakes drifting down from the sky. She keened softly, tears flowing from her eyes, remembering the phrase she had said every year when it had snowed.

_Do you want to build a snowman?_

Her voice cracked as she sang. Kneeling, she turned around and pressed her head to the boulder, as she nearly whispered out the last line pleadingly.

_It doesn't have to be a snowman_

Her shoulders shook as she cried softly. On the other side of the boulder, Depth Charge sat with his back to it, leaning against it as he offlined his optics, tears flowing freely from them, assured that no one was around to see him cry.

Neither moved for a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Characters: DC, Asha**

**Plot: While hunting down X, Depth Charge comes across a young human girl when he investigates a planet on which one of X's massacres occurred. This is a continuation of the oneshot/songfic I posted. It follow their time together from the moment they met up to Depth Charge's death.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Beast Wars.**

* * *

On a small backwater planet, a Starhopper landed thrusters blowing sand in every direction, enveloping the vehicle in a cloud of dust. A single solitary figure emerged from the spacecraft, shielded by said cloud. As the cloud slowly dissipated, the figure revealed itself to be the former Chief Security Officer on Colony Omicron, Depth Charge. The mech stepped out of his ship, taking in the bloodshed that had been wreaked upon the planet by his most hated nemesis; Protoform X. Mangled corpses had been strewn all around, some of them missing limbs and even their heads. Depth Charge's fists clenched as an untameable rage flowed through him. Wracked with guilt at yet another failed attempt at trying to capture X before he could slaughter anymore innocents, he sank to his knees and let out a long, loud scream that echoed throughout the land. Tears ran down his face as he hunched over and gritted his dermas._ How many? How many more have to die before I finally catch that psychopath? _He thought, looking up to the sky.

"FRAG YOU X!"

Rain started pouring down, mixing with the blood, creating an ocean of red that seemed to go on forever. The mech let his head hang, exhaustion creeping into his frame. After a while, he slowly rose and headed back to his Starhopper. Stopping in front of the craft, he took one last look at the slaughter that had been dealt upon the planet. Turning, he was about to get into his craft when he noticed a small movement out of the corner of his optics. Spinning, he scrutinized the spot that the movement came from, hope creeping into his tanks. Nothing. Downhearted, he was about to turn back to his vehicle when he saw the small movement again. This time however, it did not stop. Optics widening, Depth Charge ran through the rain, ignoring the dead bodies that he occasionally stepped over. He had found a survivor!

Upon reaching the survivor, he froze. Lying in front of him was a young organic girl around three to four years old, trying to crawl her way out from under a pile of corpses. She was shivering in fear and from the cold rain, her eyes squinting, struggling to see through the cracked lenses of the overly large spectacles she was wearing. A sudden protectiveness washed over Depth Charge. With more care than he thought was possible, he took hold of the girl and gently pulled her out from the pile of corpses. The child froze and then started struggling as he carried her away from the massacre.

"Shhh. Easy there kid. I'm not gonna hurt you," he said, gently bouncing her to stop her from crying. Red optics losing the hardness they had gained after seeing more than enough of the destruction X brought on each planet he visited. Slowly, the child ceased her struggling and crying, though she still sniffled occasionally. Large brown eyes looked up at him, full of trust.

"Promise?" she asked, her voice shaky. Smiling softly, Depth Charge nodded.

"Promise," he said. The beam the child gave was enough reignite a dying spark.

Looking around he said, "Hey kid, where are your parents?"

Evidently, mentioning her parents wasn't such a good idea as the girl tried to hide her face in his chest plates. She also started crying again. Frowning, Depth Charge realised what must have occurred. Gently bouncing the child, he tightened his hold on her, bringing her into a comforting embrace, laying his helm on top of her head.

"Shhh, shhh. It's okay, it's okay," he said. Depth Charge cradled the small form against his frame, doing his best to shield her from the rain. He began walking back to the Starhopper, taking care of his precious load. Once inside the craft, he strapped himself and the child in, and took off flying as far away as he could from the planet and started heading towards his next destination at top speed. Putting the ship on autopilot, he looked down at the girl sitting in his lap. She hadn't moved or spoken since he promised not to hurt her and had taken off her spectacles in favour of pressing herself as close as she could to Depth Charge's warm frame. She had dark skin and both her clothes and short hair were matted with blood. Arms circling around her, he gave her a gentle squeeze. The girl looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen from crying.

"What's your name kid?" he asked her softly. Sniffling, the child replied.

"Asha."

"Asha, huh," said Depth Charge, testing the name out. "That's a pretty name," he said kindly.

"Thank you," replied Asha shyly. Looking up at the big robot that had saved her, she asked him curiously, "What's your name?"

"Depth Charge," replied the mech. The girl's eyes widened in wonder. Chuckling, Depth Charge returned his gaze to the screens that had his next destination plotted on them, Asha's curious gaze burning into his faceplates. It wasn't long before the girl's natural curiosity got the better of her and she found herself reaching up to brush her fingertips against Depth Charge's yellow crests at the side of his helm.

"Careful with those," he said. "They're very sensitive." Eyes widening, Asha nodded her head so furiously that Depth Charge was worried it would fall off. Then, she went back to probing his crests gently. Offlining his optics, Depth Charge let out a soft sigh at the pleasurable feeling Asha's fingers made on his crests. _That feels nice_. Asha's fingers brushed over a sensitive node. Depth Charge's optics onlined in a flash. T_oo nice. _Gently grabbing Asha's tiny hands in his own large servos, he pulled them away from his helm.

"That's enough for now kid," he said. Pouting, Asha gave a soft whine, but did not contradict his words. Making herself comfortable in his lap, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Depth Charge's hold on Asha tightened once he noticed she was sleeping. Gazing out the windshield* of the Starhopper at the countless stars that popped in his view, he pondered over a thought that had just occurred. Then, he altered their course and joined Asha in recharge a few minutes after.

* * *

***about this, I have no idea what to call it so, yah.**

**Either than that, how'd you like the first chapter? Good? Bad? (Hopefully good :P)**

**Please Review! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so here is chapter 2! There's something with the dialogue I want to point out. Asha's still a really young kid, so its natural that she pronounces words wrongly and has bad grammar. Basically, for her part of the dialogue, its bad grammar and adding an "s" at the end of the word so you=yous and I=Is. Just to make sure you guys don't get confused :P**

* * *

Depth Charge woke to the beeping of his ship's systems. They had reached their destination. He had decided to take a detour to a small backwater planet to bring Asha to a medic for a quick check-up, just in case she had obtained any injuries that had gone unnoticed. Switching to manual control, he landed the Starhopper in the planet's fairly busy spaceport. Climbing out, he took a brisk pace to the nearest motel he could find with Asha in his arms. He'd have to wash her off before going to the clinic unless he wanted people to think he was a raving lunatic.

The room he rented was small, but comfortable. Depth Charge rummaged around a cabinet for a blanket. Wrapping Asha's small form with the microfiber cloth, he laid her on the couch gently. Stalking to the wash racks, he kneeled by the decently sized bath tub and started filling it with warm water.

He glanced over his shoulder at the youngling on the couch, making sure that she was still there before turning back to the tub. After testing the temperature of the water to make sure it wouldn't be too hot or cold he stood up and walked over to the couch to rouse the girl. He froze upon reaching the couch. The blanket was empty and her spectacles were all that was left of her. Cursing, he whipped around frantically searching for the girl when he heard a splash and laughter coming from the wash racks.

Slowly, he turned around, his jaw dropping at what he saw. Low and behold, there was one dark skinned organic youngling splashing around in the tub, bloody clothes on the floor. _How did she…_ Depth Charge's head swiveled between the couch and the tub. _She was just… I just…_ he thought dumbly. The girl was obliviously swimming around in the tub. Shaking his helm in disbelief and picking his jaw off the floor, he made his way to the washracks.

"Having fun?" he asked her, regaining his composure. The girl's eyes lit up when she saw him.

"Depth Charge!" she cried happily. Suddenly, she frowned, eyeing his armour.

"Yous dirty," she declared. Depth Charge raised and optic ridge in amusement.

"Yous must bathers. Come play!" she said, motioning towards the tub. Depth Charge looked at the child in amusement. He had been worried that she would be one of those kids who didn't like taking baths. It was clear he had been worrying about nothing. The mech turned his gaze to the floor of the washracks. Water which had splashed out from the tub had mixed with the blood stained clothes creating an ungodly mess. The kid noticed.

"Oopsies. Sowwie," she said sheepishly.

"Is cleans!" she declared suddenly, trying to stand up in the tub. Her efforts ended up with her slipping and sloshing more water onto the floor.

Sighing, Depth charge said, "No, I'll clean it up. You stay in the tub." The girl looked at him worriedly.

"But yous dirties," she protested, wildly waving her arms at him. Depth Charge smiled behind his mask.

"I'll join you once I'm done, Okays?" The girl looked at him uncertainly.

"Okays, but yous calls mes if yous needs helps, kay?" she said firmly.

Chuckling, Depth Charge nodded and replied, "Is calls."

Grabbing a towel from the rack nearby, he began wiping up the mess on the floor. Suddenly, he froze in a sudden realisation of what he had said. Groaning silently, he finished cleaning the mess and dumped the towel and clothes in a bin. _What type of self-respecting mech says "Is calls"_, he thought to himself furiously. He stalked past the tub to the shower, not pausing when Asha called him.

"Let me wash off my armour first, kid," he mumbled distractedly and was replied with a bright "Okays". Primus, he was already speaking like her even though he had been with her for less than three hours. Shaking his helm disbelievingly, he turned on the shower and started scrubbing the blood off his armour with the motel provided sponge. Once her was certain his armour was blood-free, he stepped out of the shower, took off his mask and stripped off all his armour (save his codpiece obviously). Walking back to the tub, he climbed in, letting out a pleased sigh and off lined his optics as the warm water engulfed his bare protoform. He shifted as he felt a pair of curious hands running over his body, probing and prodding at his protoform.

He onlined his optics upon feeling the hands run over his face and nearly had a spark attack when was met with the sight of Asha's face right in front of his own. _Steady mech_, he thought to himself.

"Yous pretty," she observed nonchalantly.

"Is likes yous skin," she continued.

"Is pretties."

Asha gave him a bright smile to which he couldn't help but respond with a smile of his own, though "pretty" wasn't exactly how he would describe himself. The youngling reached up to his helm to run a hand across his helm fins. It seemed like she'd gotten pretty attached to them. He leaned into her touch, optics shuttering and purred. Wait- WHAT! Depth Charge's helm shot up, faceplates burning in heat and looked at the girl in his lap. She cocked her head giving him a slight grin that said _I'll keep your secret safe. _Giving the girl a stern glare that told her of the suffering she would endure if she spoke to anyone about what had just happened, to which he was answered with an illegally innocent gaze, he settled back against the tub, carefully circling his arms around her fragile body and surrendered himself to her tender mercies. Checking his internal chronometer, he decided that a short nap was in order. After all, the water _did_ feel very nice and Asha's curious fingers were doing wonders to ease away the pit shaking processor ache that had been present with him for the past few weeks. A few minutes of recharge wouldn't hurt anyone.

* * *

**Yay! So that's the second chapter. Hopefully DC wasn't too OOC :\ Reviews are extremely helpful, of course :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yes, I am sosososo sorry for taking so long to do this. I know I'm a little shit.**

* * *

Depth Charge stared at his surroundings, optics wide in horror as he took in the carnage that X had left in his wake. Hearing a sudden scream, he took off in its direction and was faced with X. It had a youngling in its grip and was slowly crushing its throat.

"Let her go, X," Depth Charge growled shakily. X grinned maliciously and threw the child at him. Diving, Depth Charge caught the youngling only to have life energon splattered all over his frame. Shakily, he turned the child he was cradling in his arms over and saw a large hole residing in its chassis. Depth Charge stopped breathing. His systems started to overheat from the lack of cool air to cool them down. His vision blurred as warning signs popped up in his processor. Hearing a sickening crunch, Depth Charge's helm snapped up just in time for him to see X taking a bite out of the youngling's spark. The mech found himself incapable of movement as X leisurely strolled towards him. Depth Charge's spark hammered against his chassis as the failed experiment stopped in front of him.

"_Now, it's your turn,_" it rasped, a servo reaching out to his chassis-

**"DEPTH CHARGE! DEPTH CHARGE!"**

Depth Charge snapped back to reality feeling tiny fists pounding on his chassis and hearing a shrill voice ringing in his audials. Asha. Bolting up, he cradled the girl, looking around for any danger and when he found none, he turned his gaze to her. Asha was crying. Her eyes were red, swollen and full of fear and judging by how hard she had been hitting his chassis (even though it didn't hurt him), she was going to have some very painful bruises on her fists.

"What's wrong kid?" he asked her gently. The girl sniffled softly looked at him tearfully.

"Y-yous was ha-having sleep s-scares," she said, her words punctuated with hiccups. "Yous shouts and- thsssss. Thsssss."

Unable to pronounce the word, Asha flapped her limbs wildly to get her point across. Depth Charge held back a snort at her theatrics, a tiny corner of his mouth turning upwards.

"You okay?" he asked her, remembering that he had been holding her during his nightmare. Smiling, she nodded and snuggled up to him, resting her head over his spark. Depth Charge's shoulders sagged with relief. He'd been lucky that he had not hurt her. Checking his internal chronometer, he used all of his willpower to sit still in the bathtub as he saw that they had pretty much slept through the rest of the day. Looking down, he realised that his young companion had fallen asleep. Pursing his lips in amusement, he adjusted his hold on her and climbed out of the tub, taking care to not jostle her. Depth Charge gently wrapped Asha in a towel and lay her on the couch while he dried himself off and put on his armour. After putting his armour and mask back on, he kneeled in front of Asha and carefully towelled the water off her body.

Rising from the floor, the Maximal realised that his young charge did not have a change of clothes. The mech paused, uncertain of what he was supposed to do. Looking around aimlessly, he wondered whether, by some miracle, the motel would have spare clothes for human younglings.

* * *

In the end, Depth Charge had gone down to the market for a quick clothes shopping trip, making a speedy escape from the enthusiastic salespeople that tried to coerce him into buying more unnecessary materials. The Maximal internally thanked Primus his estimate of Asha's size was correct as he gently helped his young charge- who was now awake -to clothe herself. The girl was literally bouncing with joy as she pulled on her new outfit, beaming at Depth Charge and thanking him repeatedly. The Maximal responded by playfully ruffling the child's hair, to which she responded with an _eep!_ followed by a torrent of giggles.

Picking Asha up, Depth Charge held her small frame securely in his arms as he made his way to the local clinic. Fortunately, there seemed to be very few visitors and it wasn't long before he was summoned to see the doctor. The mech patiently leaned against a wall as the doctor checked Asha over for any injuries, an unnoticed tension leaving his body when the doctor announced she was perfectly healthy, then wilted under the glare of the doctor as he was admonished and chastised for the bruises on his charge's hands.

"You're lucky she didn't injure her hands," the doctor said as she applied a cream -of sorts- to her patient's hands and bandaged them, chewing out the Maximal who was trying to blend into the wall to no avail. "Make sure you put some ice on them when you get home."

Said Maximal nodded meekly, wilting under the doctor's harsh death glare, internally wincing with guilt as he picked up the child -cue another squeal of glee- and thanked the doctor gratefully before beating a hasty retreat, barely hearing his charge's words of reassurance that her hands didn't hurt -which, in fact made him feel even _more_ guilty, seeing how she winced every time the bruised part of her hands bumped against his plating.

As he walked back to the motel, he pondered over his next course of action. If he followed rules and regulations, he would be dropping Asha off at an orphanage. Then again, he'd followed the rules and regulations on Omicron and look where that had got him. His mood darkened instantly and his body tensed as he remembered the destruction that had been wrought on Omicron. A dark frown took its place on his faceplates and he stopped abruptly, his grip on Asha unconsciously tightening.

" … De Cha…?"

The words were spoken so softly that his sensitive audios barely caught them. He had almost thought they were just background noise or even, just the wind. Depth Charge's optics shuttered as he realised that it was Asha who had uttered those words and then took a few more moments to process those words before realising that said words were actually -most likely- his name. The Maximal tilted his head and looked down at Asha with a kind smile forming on his faceplates before his expression turned to shock.

His charge looked _terrified_. She had drawn her arms as close to herself as she could and her eyes were wide and teary with fear. Her vital signs were all over the place, but the thing that really shocked the mech was that Asha was _trembling_. He could not only _feel_, but _see_ her small form _quivering_ in his hold. A surge of protectiveness overcame Depth Charge and he cradled his child in his arms, hunching over her and trying to block her form from everyone's sight as he looked at her with concern shining in his optics.

"Hey, what's wrong, kid?"

* * *

**Hehehe. Yes. A cliffie. Pls review! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I've realised that I can't belt out the chapters as fast as I thought I'd be able to ;-; However, I am definitely going to finish this story not matter how long it takes. This I strongly assure you. I've just taken so long because my story mojo keeps failing me and my DC muse isn't as strong as it used to be :| In any case, the solution to this round's writers block was a simple change in the_ point of view._ Hope you enjoy ;)**

* * *

The lady doctor _-she knew the nice lady was a doctor because her momma and papa had to take her to the doctor pretty often- _was _really _nice, Asha thought. She'd rubbed a cooling cream on her hands and made them _really _comfy by wrapping them up with pretty white band aids. She'd even given Asha a lolli! A _strawberry_ lolli! Strawberry was her _favourite _colour and she really, really, _really_, _**really**_loves strawberry tastes. The nice lady doctor secretly slipped the lolli into her pocket and made the _"shhh" _sign and gave her a wink! Then, they'd both giggled secretley at Depth Charge because he looked so _weird _standing there 'cause he was so _big _and the ce-ci-cl-_oh yeah!_Ceiling! The ceiling was pretty short. Maybe just a _little _taller than the nice lady doctor? _Anyways_, the nice lady doctor had scolded Depth Charge, then let him carry Asha away. Asha gelt really happy at first, but then she saw Depth Charge looked _really _sad, then realised that he'd been looking pretty sad every time he looked at her hands. With this thought, Asha thought that may be if she told Depth Charge her hands didn't hurt anymore, he would be happy?

But, even though Asha kept on saying her hand didn't hurt, Depth Charge _still _looked sad. But _then_, after a while, Depth Charge had put on his thinking face, and although he wasn't happy, at least he wasn't sad. With a smile, Asha sighed as she lay her head against Depth Charge's shoulder, happy that she was being carried _-she loved being carried. It was so fun!-_ espi- es- **es-pe-ci-ally **by Depth Charge, 'cause he felt so **warm**.

Then suddenly, Depth Charge held her tighter. Not an _uncomfy _type of tighter, but a tighter that meant something was wrong. Just a few seconds later, Depth Charge stopped all of a sudden. Asha slowly pulled away from Depth Charge's body and _froze_, butterflies starting to flutter about in her tummy when she saw the scary frown on Depth Charge's face. He looked really angry. Why was he angry? Was it something she did? Was he mad at her? Was... Asha swallowed nervously as she looked at Depth Charge in slight fear. _Was he going to beat her?_ **NO**. Depth Charge **promised**! He **promised **he wouldn't hurt her! _He said it himself! _Depth Charge wouldn't hurt her! Depth Charge was **warm **an- and he was also _really gentle _and he was also _really nice _to her. He wasn't like Uncle Jo. He wouldn't hurt her like Uncle Jo. Only Uncle Jo would hurt her. He didn't like Asha and he would beat her and-

**NO! NO! BAD THOUGHTS! NO BAD THOUGHT! BAD THOUGHT GO AWAY! BAD THOUGHTS GO AWAY NOW! GO AWAY! GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAYGO AWAY GOAWAY-**

Asha **screamed **in her head.

Her body was _shaking_. She felt like the butterflies had become _more _butterflies and they were flying around in her tummy. And the butterflies were all _smacking _against her tummy and making a very _big_, _scary _feeling. Asha shook her head roughly, hoping that that would shake the bad thoughts out of her head too, but ending up whimpering quietly when the bad thought didn't just only _stay_, but also suddenly become _even badder. _Asha bit her lip and shut her eyes so hard it was _painful_, but she didn't really mind, 'cause it helped to take away the bad thought a little bit, so she didn't stop doing it. _However_, the bad thoughts slowly started coming back and becoming _worser and worser _and- she _ScrREaMEd _**DEPTH CHARGE!**!

But Asha was so _scared _her voice didn't say his name loud enough, and she was so _scared _and she wanted Depth Charge to save her like he had done before on her home, but she was so _scared _and _shaky _that she thought she was gonna start _crying -and she __**hated**__ crying 'cause crying meant that she was __**weak**__ and she didn't wanna be __**weak;**__ she wanted to be __**strong- **_but then Depth Charge had _heard _her and he was suddenly looking at her with his _pretty _eyes and he was speaking to her in that _low, gentle _voice and she could _see _and she could _hear,_that he _cared,_just like the nice lady doctor said he did, and the feeling inside of her was _growing and growing _and suddenly she couldn't hold it in anymore and-

**She cried.**

Asha could feel the salty tasting tears that were streaming down her face. Her nose became runny and her mouth had so much drool in it and she was drooling and she was crying and she was boogering all at once but she didn't feel so sad. She actually felt happy and thankful -_her momma had taught her that word- _because Depth Charge was _here _with her and he was stroking her hair and he was speaking to her gently and he was bouncing her and he was safe.

Asha didn't notice Depth Charge's_fierce_and_scary_protective expression as he_cradled_her in his strong arms. She didn't notice that they had arrived at the motel they were staying in. She didn't register the **warm**, comfy bed nor the **comfy** quilt that Depth Charge had pulled over the both of their bodies. All she knew was that she was _finally _**safe **with Depth Charge and that she **never **wanted to leave him. And for the first time in a long, _long _time, she felt that she was **home**.

* * *

The first thing Asha noticed when she woke up was how **warm** she was. As she opened her eyes, a small smile came onto her face as she saw how pretty and calm Depth Charge looked in his sleep. He had taken off his mask and she could see a really, really, _really_ tiny smile on his face, is she looked _really_ carefully. Asha giggle softly as she raised one of her hands and gentle reached up to one of his head-fins and _gently_ ran her fingers over it. She _gasped_ and _shoved_ her fist in her mouth quickly to keep herself quiet because when she rubbed Depth Charge's head-fin, he _purred_ like a cat and _smiled_ _really prettily_ and **pushed** his head against her hand. Giggling softly, Asha made a _big_ grin as she continued to rub Depth Charge's head-fin like she was giving him a massage, tiny giggles escaping from her mouth as she did so.

Asha sighed quietly, not wanting to accidentally wake up Depth Charge. He looked so... **peaceful**_._ _Yeah! That's the word!_ Asha thought grinning at her _great_ success. Her grin soon fell back to a sweet smile as she watched Depth Charge sleep- this time _without_ having nightscares. Soon, her mouth opened _really_ wide and let out a _big_, _quiet_ yawn. Licking her lips sleepily, Asha snuggled closer to Depth Charge, pressing her body as _**tightly**_ as she could against his and resting her hands on his **warm** metal chest, falling asleep just a few minutes after.

If she had stayed awake a _little_ longer, she would have seen Depth Charge cracking an optic open and looking down at his young charge with a soft smile before pulling the blanket over both their heads and craddling Asha to himself and falling back into recharge.

* * *

**So, fluffy ending :D How'd you like this chappie? Please do review :3**

**A.N. - Also, just to clarify, Asha will not -not now and not _ever_\- have romantic feelings for Depth Charge. Not even a _crush_ on him. The only love she has for him is platonic, familial love. He's given her a home and a second chance -and right now, she _worships_ him for that. But once she's older and matured, she'll express her feelings in a much more professional way (though she'll occasionally resort to the lovely sloppy kisses and bear hugs)**


End file.
